Kurokami Kijo
by Irulan
Summary: *CH. 3 UPLOADED (sorry it's so short... chapter 4 will get interesting... I hope)* A newcomer joins the Inuyasha group. Story rated for language content and future violence/mature themes. Please R&R. ^_^
1. The Kageboushi

**DISCLAIMER: **_Inuyasha_ and _Kagome_ do not belong to me.  They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and other respective licensed corporations; however, the character _Kurokami Kijo_ belongs to me.

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Kurokami Kijo 

An _Inuyasha _Fanfiction

By Irulan

*

CHAPTER I 

**The Kageboushi**

*

        Kurokami removed her inner robe and buried it in a shallow hole she had dug between the roots of a great tree.  Moving quickly, she grabbed her outer kimono and scooted up the ancient tree, pausing at a branch where the stench of her prey was strongest.  She began rubbing her body against the branch, willing her pale skin to lap up the scent she needed to assume.  She did the same with her kimono, and promptly wrapped it around herself.  As much as she despised being restricted by it, she did not wish to be exposed for too long in this strange territory.  Who knew what could be watching her.

        Many years ago, she had discovered the trick of masking her own scent with that of her enemies.  It was a dangerous practice, but an effective one; after all, it _had_ kept her alive all these years.  

        She gave a lonely sigh.  Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered trying to stay alive.  Life gave her nothing but another reason to hide.  _Kurokami Kijo, the Black-Haired Demoness._  That was her name; or rather, it was what the humans referred to her as.  Or most humans did, anyway.  Her mother's family had nastily called her _Kikei_, a deformity.  She cringed at the name.

        Kurokami's mother had given birth to her out of wedlock.  Soon after her birth, her grandfather had searched far and wide to find a husband to marry his daughter.  It had not been an easy task; in all truth, it had taken close to five years to find a willing suitor.  During that time, Kurokami's mother had taught her about her lineage.  Of course, she was too young to understand everything.  All she knew was that she was the daughter of a powerful inu youkai, or dog demon, of the East.  Her father had also rejected her, mostly because she was only a hanyou, a half-demon, but also because of her black hair.  According to her father, black hair was fine for a human, but not for a youkai, or even for a hanyou.  He too, referred to her as _Kikei_.  In the eyes of her mother's family, Kurokami was not a kikei because of her hair.  Indeed, they also had black hair.  They taunted her and called her kikei for her deep red eyes and her furry, dog-like ears.  

        The first two or three years of the marriage between Kurokami's mother and stepfather passed quite pleasantly.  Kurokami remembered being awakened by her mother early each morning, so she could put her hair up in a tight knot in order to hide her ears.  Her stepfather couldn't know about her background.  He believed that Kurokami's mother was a widow.

        But one day, he _did _find out.  Kurokami was complaining of earache, and he tried to check her ears for an infection.  She fought to prevent him, but her hair knot came loose and fell out.  Her stepfather was infuriated and carried her deep into the forest, where he expected either a youkai or a wild animal to kill her.  He would not allow a kikei to live under his roof and soil his family's name.

        That was eight years ago.  Since then, she had been terrorizing humans and hiding from demons, and she'd been doing a good job of it, too.  The youkai of the East often referred to her as the Kageboushi, the Silhouette, because of her ability to hide by covering her scent.  She liked that name.  But she was the most proud of Kurokami Kijo, the name the humans had dubbed her.  She only wished she were a _true_ demoness.

        "That's why I fight to stay alive," she bitterly muttered to herself.  "So I can find a way to become a full youkai, and punish my stepfather and my mother's family for treating me the way they did!"

        And Kurokami believed she had finally found a way to do just that.  Rumours and stories of a western hanyou named Inuyasha were circulating around the lands of the East.  Supposedly, he had in his possession the Shikon no Tama, a mystical jewel that held the power to turn a hanyou into a full youkai.  Why Inuyasha hadn't used it yet was beyond Kurokami.  But she wasn't interested in technicalities like that.  She just wanted the jewel for herself, and vowed that nothing would prevent her from stealing it from Inuyasha.  Her trials and ordeals throughout the last few months had only helped to fuel her passion for finding the jewel.  Travelling on foot in foreign territory certainly had not been a piece of cake.  Many a demon had tried to stop her in her tracks.  But none had succeeded.  Kurokami was powerful indeed.

        _If I can defeat youkai, then Inuyasha won't be a problem at all_, she smiled to herself.

        And now, the moment where she would face Inuyasha was almost here.  Kurokami could tell by the strength of the scent that this tree was a place that he frequented.  This fact relieved her; she need not worry about his scent wearing off.  It was so thick; she could practically wear it as a blanket.  Not only that, Inuyasha would feel more comfortable and at ease around this tree.  He wouldn't suspect a thing: when Kurokami moved in for the kill, Inuyasha would be dead before he even had a chance to know what hit him.

        So Kurokami sat back with a sly smile on her face, and awaited her chance to become a full youkai.

        Inuyasha sniffed the air.  Someone, or something, was close.  And trying to hide.  The scent, he felt, was not that of a youkai, yet not that of a human.

        "Could it be a hanyou?!" he said to himself.  

        He was surprised.  He had never caught the scent of another half-demon before.  Hanyou generally spent their entire lives alone and on the run, rejected by the world.  There was nothing on earth more hated and despised than a hanyou.

        _No wonder he's trying to mask his scent._ Inuyasha mused. _He doesn't want to be found and become a youkai's dinner._

        He sniffed the air again, and followed his nose to the bottom of the sacred Go-shinboku tree, his favourite place to rest.  Buried beneath a pile of earth and leaves hid the source of the scent.

        _Why hasn't he shown his face yet?_  Inuyasha wondered.  _He should have leapt out to defend himself by now._

        There was a slight rustle in the branches above his head, and Inuyasha snapped his head up in time to see something flying towards him.  He had no chance to dodge, and wound up pinned to the floor of his forest.

        "Get the hell off me!" he growled, rolling out from under his attacker.

        He now had his assailant pinned below him, and was able to get a closer look.  The first thing he noticed was that the stranger reeked of Inuyasha's own scent.

        _That's why I never knew he was up there in the Go-shinboku_, he realised.

        He looked his captive up and down.  He had black, furry ears; long, silky black hair, and eyes that glowed deep, deep red.  He was wearing a plain, worn-out, red kimono.

        "Nani?!  A kimono?!" Inuyasha exclaimed with a start.  "You're a female hanyou?"

        The girl struggled and squirmed beneath his clawed grip.  She could sense Inuyasha's scent wearing off her skin as she fought to break free.  Should she manage to escape and run away, she would not be able to lose him.  She silently berated herself for underestimating Inuyasha.  _It must be the Shikon no Tama that makes him this strong_, she thought.  _Even though he hasn't used it to become a true demon yet, it still gives him incredible power._

        "Who are you? What do you want?" Inuyasha demanded.  _She's strong, who ever she is.  I don't think I can hold her down for much longer._

        "I'm Kurokami Kijo, the Kageboushi," she menaced, her red eyes glowing, "and I've come for the Shikon no Tama."

        "Feh!" Inuyasha grunted.  "I've never heard of you.  And I'm sure as hell not gonna give you the jewel."

        "Then you can die, Inuyasha!" Kurokami screamed, gathering all her strength and forcing him off her.  She leapt to her feet, extended her paw-like hand, and ran forward, attempting to plunge her claws deep into his neck.  

Inuyasha drew his father's sword, the Tetsusaiga.  Upon its fang-like transformation, he swung it repeatedly at Kurokami.  Kurokami had never seen a sword such as this before.  Rarely had she ever been involved in combat that included weaponry; she preferred fighting and killing with her bare hands.  It had always been Kurokami's belief that if one needed a weapon to fight, then he or she was weak.

_But Inuyasha is not weak_, she told herself.  _He is a lot stronger than I could have ever imagined him to be.  It must be because of the Shikon no Tama.  Not only has it increased his strength, but it has possessed his sword, too.  And if that's the case, then as soon as I get that jewel in my grasp, then Inuyasha will be defenceless against me._

"Give me the Shikon no Tama, Inuyasha!" she cried, dodging another swing of the mighty sword.

"Never!" Inuyasha replied, as he raised the Tetsusaiga one last time and began bringing it down on Kurokami's shoulder.

        _"OSUWARI!!_ SIT!" a young female voice screamed from behind the two duelling hanyou.

        "Kagome, you idiot!" Inuyasha yelled as he crashed to the ground under his friend's subduing spell.  "She'll kill you!"

        _Especially when she finds out it's _you_ who's carrying the Shikon no Tama, and not me_, he thought to himself.

        Kurokami merely stood on, staring in shock.  This young _human_, this young human _girl_, had saved her from certain death by Inuyasha's hand.  She hung her head in shame.

        The demon laws of the East decreed that should a human save the life of a youkai, then that youkai became the human's servant and protector for Eternity.  It was a mark of weakness.  Even if the human set the demon free, they were forevermore regarded as a useless failure, and shunned from youkai society.  _I say that as if I was welcome there already_, Kurokami silently said to herself.

        Kurokami, reluctantly accepting her defeat, walked over to the oddly dressed girl.  _What was her name? Kagome?_  She bowed deeply before her.

        "Human, I am your humble servant and protectress," she said.


	2. Chapter II

**DISCLAIMER:**  I do not own _Inuyasha, Kagome, _or _Kaede_; they are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.  The character _Kurokami Kijo_ does belong to me.

Kurokami Kijo 

An _Inuyasha _Fanfiction

By Irulan

*

CHAPTER II 

*

"Feh," Inuyasha snorted.  He didn't trust the strange hanyou in the least.  He felt certain that Kurokami had figured out that Kagome carried the Shikon no Tama shards and was only attempting to con her way into gaining Kagome's trust before stealing them.  "Try as hard as you like, Kurokami Kijo, but you won't be able to sweet talk your way into getting the jewel, either."

"Stay out of this, Inuyasha!" Kurokami cried in hot fury.  "I have every intention of killing you to get the Shikon no Tama, if that's what it takes.  All I'm doing is what the Law requires me to do!"  She again bowed deeply before her new mistress.

        "What is going on here?" Kagome stepped in, wanting to ease the tension and find out exactly why this girl was kneeling before her. "What happened?"

        "She attacked me!" Inuyasha cried out indignantly.  "I was making sure the way ahead was clear of danger, so everyone else could make it back to Kaede's village in one piece, and she ambushed me!"

        Ignoring her friend, Kagome knelt down and met Kurokami's eyes.  "You look tired and hungry," she said gently.  "Come with us to the village, and we'll feed you, and then we can talk."

        Kurokami nodded dejectedly in reply, and stood up.  She really had no choice in the matter; she was bound by the Laws to remain in the service of Kagome and her descendants forever.  She retrieved her inner robe from the shallow hole she had dug, and loosely held it as she followed a pace behind Kagome.  Inuyasha bounded ahead towards the village, and Kurokami wished she were able to do the same thing.  _Humans are so fucking slow,_ she thought bitterly to herself.  She might as well be weighted down with a ball and chain.  The speed, or lack thereof, in which Kagome traveled was agonising to Kurokami, who was more accustomed to deftly leaping from treetop to treetop.

        "Why are you walking behind me?" Kagome asked, knowing that the half-demon girl would much rather be running freely.

        "Because I am your servant," was Kurokami's quiet reply.  "I can't walk ahead of you or beside you."  _Doesn't she get it?_

"But you want to move faster, don't you?"

        "Well, yes."

        "Then let me travel on your back, and we'll both get to the village faster." Kagome smiled.

        Kurokami looked at her in shock.  "I've never carried anyone on my back before.  If I go too fast, I might drop you."

        "Don't worry about it," Kagome assured her.  "I'll hold on tight, and I'll give you the directions to the village."  She gave Kurokami another reassuring smile, and hopped onto her back.

        Kurokami leapt into the air, once again traveling at the speed she enjoyed.  She was surprised that she could still move quite fast, even with the weight of a human on her back.  It was refreshing to feel the wind whip against her face and through her long hair.  And she didn't need Kagome's directions after all; she simply followed Inuyasha's scent to the village.

        Upon their arrival, Kagome and Kurokami were greeted by a seething hanyou and an aging miko.  Kurokami eyed the miko suspiciously.  The mystical priestesses were not known for being friendly to demons, and Kurokami knew that this old woman with the patch over her eye could easily hurt her with her magic if she tried.  Kurokami had never been good at defending herself against spells.

        The troupe followed the old miko into a hut, where she began serving a hot soup, all the while keeping her eye on the hanyou girl.

        "That's her, Kaede," Inuyasha growled to the miko.  "The hanyou who wants the Shikon no Tama.

        Kaede continued her study of the half-demon girl.  "Who are you?  And why is it that you seek the jewel?"

        "I am Kurokami Kijo," was her reply, "and I come from the lands far to the East.  While hunting for food, I heard of a rumour about a hanyou in the West who was looking for a powerful jewel called the Shikon no Tama.  Supposedly it holds the power to turn him into a full youkai.  Since then, I've hunting for him, so I could steal the jewel and become a youkai myself.  And now I've found it, but he's proving to be a stronger adversary than I could have ever imagined."

        "And what's this business of you being Kagome's eternal servant?" Inuyasha demanded.  "Are you trying to wheedle your way into earning her trust before stealing the jewel?"

        "Do you think I _want_ to be in her service for eternity, hanyou?" Kurokami snarled back.  "I _despise_ humans for everything they have put me through.  But I have respect for the Laws, and because she saved me from your wretched claws, I am bound to serve her for the rest of my life.  I can never show my face in my homeland again, thanks to this whole mess." Kurokami paused for a moment.  "Why do _you_ follow her around, hanyou?  Are you her lover?  Or did she save your life, too?" she sneered.

        Inuyasha glared at her.  "_You don't know anything about it!_" he growled, leaping up to attack her and spilling his soup.

        "Osuwari!" Kagome yelled, and Inuyasha crashed to the floor, muttering obscenities under his breath.  "Inuyasha, Kurokami, you two are going to have to learn to get along!"  Kagome then turned to Kurokami and again began to speak in the same gentle tone as before.  

"Kurokami," she smiled softly, "a terrible thing happened to the Shikon no Tama a few months ago.  A crow demon stole it and swallowed it— no, no, he doesn't have it anymore, don't worry.  Let me finish.  I tried to shoot him down with an arrow, and I succeeded, to a point.  But in the process, I also shattered the jewel that was within his body, and its shards are now scattered across the land.  Inuyasha and I are trying to find these shards so that we can put the jewel back together, but it's a very hard thing to do, because a single piece of the Shikon no Tama gives someone just as much power as the whole thing would, and demons and humans alike are hunting for the pieces, too."

The hanyou girl stared at Kagome, dumbfounded.  She couldn't believe what she was hearing.  Kurokami had traveled all this way, endured so many hardships, only to find out that the Shikon no Tama she was looking for was scattered in pieces all over the place.  She was furious, mostly with herself for not listening to the entire rumour before gallivanting off in search of Inuyasha, but also with Inuyasha for not telling her he didn't have the Shikon no Tama because it was shattered.

"_HANYOU!!"_ she cried, enraged.  "Why the hell didn't you tell me you don't have the fucking jewel?  Thanks to you, I'm a fucking slave to a human for the rest of my damn life!  It honestly didn't cross your mind, during the entire time we were fighting, to tell me that you don't have it and that it's _broken_?"

"Calm down, Kurokami!"  Kagome said firmly.  

"It's evident that you are strong, Kurokami Kijo," Kaede interjected.  "Inuyasha and Kagome would surely benefit from you joining their search to complete the Shikon no Tama.  If you agree to work with them, then we can see about helping you become a full youkai once the jewel is put back together again."

"What are you talking about, old woman?" Inuyasha asked, horrified.

"Relax, Inuyasha," Kaede answered.  "Kurokami is not of these lands, and is of even less welcome here than she is in her homeland.  Despite the fact that she is now bound to serve Kagome forever, and therefore even more shunned by her people than before, it is still within her best interests to return the East as soon as possible.  But the only way for her to be able to return is to become a youkai.  She would be killed instantly, otherwise.  Once she has gone back, you will never have to worry about her again."

"Feh," Inuyasha grunted.  "We should just send her back now and _let_ her get killed.  That way I'd never have to worry about her nicking the jewel."

"We are not sending Kurokami back," Kagome said sternly.  "What do you say, Kurokami?  Will you help us if we will help you?"

Seeing that she did not have much choice, Kurokami agreed.


	3. Chapter III

**DISCLAIMER:** _Inuyasha, Kaede, Kagome, _and _Shippou_ do not belong to me, but _Kurokami_ does.

        _Why do you follow her around, hanyou?  Are you her lover? Or did she save your life, too?_

        Inuyasha winced as the harsh words Kurokami had spoken two days ago replayed in his head.  Her words had haunted his thoughts for the past forty-eight hours, and he wanted more than anything for her voice to quit permeating his mind.  He hated dealing with the feelings that Kurokami's words had invoked.

        It was the latter part of the female hanyou's chiding remark that especially infuriated Inuyasha.  _Did she save your life, too?_  Who was she to imply that he, Inuyasha, the son of the great dog demon of the Western Lands, was weak and in need of a lowly human to save him from death?  He emitted a low growl from his throat.  _That bitch doesn't know a thing._  Even if Kagome _had_ saved his life, he didn't owe her anything.  He'd saved her life more times than he could count, so they were even.  He didn't need to offer his life to Kagome in exchange for her rescuing him.  The very idea was preposterous to him.

        Despite the fact that he and Kurokami had not set off on the right foot with each other, Inuyasha admired the newcomer, to a certain extent.  For one thing, her constant guarding of Kagome really unnerved Shippou, the little kitsune fox demon with the huge crush on the human girl.  Anyone who bugged Shippou was all right in Inuyasha's books.  Not to mention her loyalty to these "Laws" she was always referring to.  It was admirable, even if sometimes the so-called Laws didn't always make sense.

He pitied her, too.  He could somewhat understand how difficult her life had been.  He could comprehend her fear of not knowing how much longer life would last.  And it was evident that she shared his desire to become more powerful, and that she greatly wished to exact revenge upon… someone.  _But who?_  Kurokami certainly piqued his curiosity, although he'd never let anyone know that.  She was still an intruder, trespassing on his territory, and he didn't trust her.  He still wanted to kill her, because she wanted the Shikon no Tama.  But before all that, he wanted to know who she really was.

Kurokami quietly snuck away from the camp.  Kagome and Shippou were sound asleep, and she knew that Inuyasha was sitting up in a tree, keeping watch.  She could sense no danger nearby, so she had no qualms about leaving Kagome's side.  _Besides,_ she told herself, _you've experienced Inuyasha's strength firsthand.  Nothing will hurt Kagome as long as he is keeping watch._

All Kurokami wanted was a few quiet moments to gather up her thoughts.  The events of the past two days or so had left her head swimming, and she needed to sort things out.  Her plans to steal the Shikon no Tama had gone horribly awry; a fact that she was surely not proud of.  And now she had been roped in to helping Kagome and her friends in finding it.  She had no choice, really.  She had to do what Kagome asked of her.

_Kagome…_ _there's something about you… something that's familiar about you._

"Bah!" Kurokami gruffed, dismissing that line of thought.  If anything was special about Kagome, it was the fact that she was the first human in years that had been nice to her and accepted her for what she was.  Maybe that was why Inuyasha followed her around.  Maybe they were this "friends" word Kagome always used.

_"Stop saying that you have to be my servant,"_ she had said, _"because I don't see you as a servant.  Let's just be friends, okay?  It'll be nice to have a girl my age around to talk to.  I get lonely sometimes."_

Kurokami had wanted to ask Kagome what "friends" was.  _If I don't know what it is, then I definitely don't know how to be one._  There were a lot of things Kagome talked about that went way over Kurokami's head, but seemed to greatly amuse Inuyasha and Shippou, that annoying little fox demon.  Kurokami had never been very inquisitive in nature, but Kagome awakened a curiosity in her.  She wanted to know more about her.

Kagome had been feigning sleep all night.  She had a lot on her mind.  _I wish Kurokami and Inuyasha would figure out that they're going to have to work together, whether they like it or not.  _She laughed softly to herself.  _I bet that's the same thing Kaede thought when Inuyasha and I first started looking for the Shikon shards.  Those two can learn a lot from each other.  They're both hanyou.  And if they pool their strengths together, they'll be unstoppable.  But first, they've got to get to know each other more._


End file.
